Celestia's breath caught in her throat.
For a second.. just one second everything around her seemed to freeze. The surroundings, the air, her thoughts… all suspended in that one brutal, unfiltered sentence.
I hate you.
And always will.
Her heart didn't just sink it shattered, piece by piece, under the weight of those words. She had prepared herself for anger. For resentment. Even indifference.
But not this.
Not raw hatred.
She straightened a little, blinking rapidly, as if that might somehow erase what she had just heard. Her lips parted, but no sound came out. Her throat had gone dry.
He wasn't lying. She could see it. There was no hesitation in his eyes. No flicker of doubt. Just cold, dead sincerity. The kind of truth you couldn't reason with.
Celestia took a slow breath in, but it trembled before she could release it. Still, she didn't allow herself to cry. No. Not here. Not in front of him.
